NEWS

Dover adopts temporary emergency shelter policy

Permit will be require life safety inspection of facility

Jeff McMenemy,Jeff McMenemy
jmcmenemy@seacoastonline.com
Dover Fire Chief Paul Haas was instrumental in drafting the policy allowing temporary emergency shelters in the city. The policy was passed by the Dover City Council Wednesday night. [Deb Cram/Fosters.com, file]

DOVER — The City Council voted unanimously to adopt a policy to require a permit to be issued before a group can open a temporary emergency homeless shelter in the city.

City Manager Michael Joyal told the council that the idea for adopting a policy to issue the permits came out of the work done by the Tri-City Homelessness Task Force.

The mayors of Dover, Rochester and Somersworth all participate in the task force.

Joyal told city councilors that “one of the issues” that came from the task force is the need to have temporary warming centers or emergency shelters in the city “when necessary.”

Dover Fire Chief Paul Haas, who is also the city’s emergency management director, last week allowed St. George’s Maronite Church to operate as a temporary warming center and emergency homeless shelter during a snowstorm.

He conducted a life-safety inspection of their facility before agreeing to let them open.

The city of Rochester previously crafted a policy for permitting such emergency shelters, Joyal said, and “for consistency sake,” Dover moved forward with its own.

“We’re asking you to adopt this for the city’s policy for permitting” the emergency shelters, Joyal said.

Before the council adopted the policy Wednesday night, Haas used “this exact policy” before allowing any group to operate an emergency shelter, Joyal said.

St. George’s was also allowed to open Wednesday at 6 p.m. as an overnight warming center before the council adopted the policy.

In response to a question, Joyal said although they would issue churches or other groups a permit if they meet the conditions to be a shelter, “there’s no fee, there’s no charge and we still do the same inspections.”

“They would have been subject to the same inspections and sign off without the policy,” he added.

Haas noted in a memo to the council that the “scope of this policy is to create guidelines intended for pre-approving and permitting the emergency use of buildings as a temporary shelter in adverse weather conditions.”

“Specifically, to ensure facilities used as shelters for a temporary/emergency nature, that are not designed or designated as shelters, provide a reasonable degree of life safety for the occupants,” Haas said.

Any temporary emergency shelter must either have a fire alarm system, a fire sprinkler system or “a trained fire watch detail must be in place the entire time the shelter facility is in use,” according to the proposed policy.

Haas previously credited the church for allowing its facility to be used as a warming center, saying it has been “very helpful.”

“We hope other locations in the city and outside the city follow their lead and try to determine if they have a space that can help,” Haas said.

St. John’s United Methodist Church off Cataract Avenue has also volunteered to use their facilities for an emergency shelter, Joyal said Wednesday.